


Eloquence

by CommedianFlag



Category: Hiveswap, Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Homestuck - Freeform, Humanstuck, Murder, Mystery, Romance, School, Schoolstuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 10:12:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19271152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommedianFlag/pseuds/CommedianFlag
Summary: ~AU Humanstuck~Kankri- School president, Tumblr User, relatively celibate.Aranea-Library's Assistant, amateur story teller and writer,  focused.Both of these two have something very big in common- that is their love of reaching their goals. What happens, however, when they are assigned to work together as school Journalists and begin to notice small things about each other?Disclaimer: Characters belong to Hussie





	1. Autumn Moon

He laid supine in his bed, his light blue eyes covered by the lassitude of their lids. He wanted to sleep, wanted to have the capability to get up and feel refreshed.  
Despite feeling exhausted, there was something that was keeping him up. Something that was stuck on his mind. It couldn't be homework, he was sure that he had finished that.   
It was probably school president. He had been elected much to his relief, but now he actually had to make those changes happen. He would have to get the people in the school to actually go along with him.  
He was going to need a lot of coffee tomorrow.


	2. Coffee

Grab a book that had been placed mistakenly by the hands of pure evil. Take that book and walk over to the shelf that houses stories of the same genera. Search for the author and place the book alongside its colleagues.

 

That is what Aranea Serket did every morning and noon. She didn't dislike it either. It was the perfect opportunity to read the back of a book and find out if it would be something she'd like to read or not. Usually, this task was a quiet one without interruptions. Today, however, seemed to prove different. She had placed Parodoxic Layers back in it's true home when someone had said her name. She jumped, not expecting the random outburst.

"Kankri?" She said. He was standing in front of her looking tired as always.

"Yes, Aranea, I apologize if I am interrupting something. I just thought I should tell you that Mrs. Coleman posted who she was pairing together for the new Journalism activity."

He took a sip of his coffee. It proved no help for the look of his jaded eyes. The temperatures had just began to drop, and already he was wearing a bright red sweater.

"I'm assuming that means we are partnered?" She asked, knowing otherwise he wouldn't be talking to her.

"Yes," Kankri said. "I think this would be a great way to open more doors in understanding whatever it is we will be working as, as well as help me improve my speeches and you your writing."

Aranea crossed her arms.

"What's wrong with my writing?"

Kankri took another sip of his coffee. When he was done, he cleared his throat.

"Nothing too severe, I was just saying if we work together, this project has benefits in both fields of what we wish to pursue."

Her eyes, a deep shade of blue, met his, a crystal shard.She had never seen someone who could keep all their emotions so hidden, and she should know too, she was great at reading people.

"Yeah, that's true. Do you have any ideas on what we might be able to conduct our research on?" She asked as she picked up another book from the cart beside her and skimmed for the author's name.

"I have a few ideas, yes, but I think it would be more necessary to get the complete list of guidelines before going too far in this."

Kankri followed her as she crossed the library, searching for the author's other books. He continued.

"Some ideas I have include economic roles and how they affect others, how our current ambitions and morals compare with that of our ancestors, and maybe even something more unsettling like politics."

Aranea paused.

"We are not doing politics. Maybe we could reach a mutual agreement." She said. She found the shelf she needed to be at and began to search through the names.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Kankri asked.

"I was hoping my project could be on something that has an interesting story surrounding it. Something that is kind of... intriguing. Like a mystery or something. We can interview the people who might have been involved and even do some exploring of our own."

 

She looked at Kankri, hoping he'd show some kind of reaction on his face. It remained blank.

"Like you said, perhaps we could come to a mutual agreement. It seems our descriptions of what we both wish to work on differ greatly, however both are vague enough to be customized into a format both of us would enjoy. It does have to have an underlying problem we can use as a theme about why it needs to be fixed though." He said.

"And that it might."

Aranea had looked at the back of the book. It was about a murderer who had got away with multiple killings, that is, until he made one wrong move that sent authorities racing after him. An idea wrapped itself around her head.

"You said something about morals and ambitions changing. Murder has become an increasingly popular subject, and as a result, more murderers go unnoticed every year."

She put the book between two similar stories and patted her sapphire dress down.

"That is a pressing matter, but don't you think there are a lot of other problems out there that need to be addressed?" He asked.

She wasn't going to be stuck doing another boring assignment, not this time.

"We can add those problems in then, I am sure there will be plenty that will show up." Aranea said. She pushed the cart over to the side of a bookshelf of encyclopedias no one ever touched. She'd have to finish this later.

"We'd have to pick a good person then." Kankri said.

"Or," Aranea said. "How about we try to solve a murder mystery ourselves? We can document what happens throughout our journey. You can talk to people about the things that might have caused their relation to the case, and I can ask about the small details." She and him both began to walk out of the library. Their first class was Journalism, so she decided to walk with him. He was always on top of his work as if it were some sort of war between he and the assignment he had to win. They had spoken before a few times, in group work. They were even friends when they were younger. Now, that group they were once part of basically disappeared, it was rare for them to talk outside of class. They all had gone their separate ways.

"That might work, we will consider it at a later time." Kankri said.

 

 

 

They left the library and entered into the hallway, a plethora of screaming adolescents and bright lights. People on their phones and on other people. Papers had already found their way to the floor, much to the janitors dismay. Someone had spilled a milky substance on the floor, and someone else was blasting music from their speakers that streamed through their headphones. Kankri seemed oblivious to what was going on around him. That, or he was trying his hardest to ignore it. He walked through the school like he was part of the staff, going somewhere and being important. Aranea kept up at his pace.

He stopped suddenly in his spot. In a matter of seconds, he had his whistle in his mouth and was blowing through it so hard, the squeak seemed to die. Two kids in the corner of a locker bay, who had originally been caught up with each other, jumped. Both of their faces began to turn red, especially the guy.

"I'm sorry, but you can't be doing this in a public facility meant to educate young people." Kankri said.

"Who made you boss?!" The boy said. He had his arm wrapped around the girl.

"Your fellow peers, perhaps if you paid more attention to school rather than your girlfriend's mouth, you would know this."

"Will you fuck off?!" The guy said. Aranea sighed. Was Kankri really that unaware that he was going to get punched if he didn't stop?

"I apologize, but I am going to have to report you to the office if you keep this act of emasculanity up." Kankri said. The guy, who by now looked like he was going to turn into an ape and go full murder, began to walk towards Kankri.

The girl looked down, as if pretending what was happening in front of her was just her imagination. A good amount of people were staring and beginning to eavesdrop.

 

The guy stared at Kankri, deep eyes shooting through him as if he thought they were lasers. He scowled before turning his head slightly and gesturing for his girlfriend to come forward. She stepped towards him and the guy shoved past Kankri, being sure to bump into him. Kankri back-stepped slightly, and watched them walk down the hall. When the two had disappeared behind the corner, Kankri turned around and tucked the whistle back into his shirt. The bell rang, and everyone who was once watching (or had their phone out to record the incident) clicked back to life and began towards their class. Aranea caught up to Kankri and joined him in walking to the other end of the school.

"This school is a mess." He said.

"Yeah. Kankri, you might want to be more careful when you go at people like that." Aranea said.

"I don't need your help with what I do Aranea." He said. "I signed up for this role, and I can handle it." He pushed his dusky hair our of his eyes and took another sip of his coffee.


	3. Project

"Alright class," Mrs. Coleman, a woman who seemed thinner than a pipe-cleaner, stood in front of the class. "I want you to get with your partner. For the next few weeks we will be working on this project. We will not however, be focusing on it everyday in class because we have other things we need to do. No switching partners by the way, I placed you with someone who I thought might bring out the strongest parts of you."

 

She paused to rub more cherry lipstick on. Popping her lips and putting the glass cap back on the makeup, Mrs. Coleman smiled a fresh new smile.

"Go ahead and sit by your partner. That will be your new spot for the next nine weeks. Which, by the way, is when your project is due. There will be no excuses as to why you can't turn it in. I don't care if you get in a car accident. Hand the project to the people in the ambulance and tell them to get it here. I had a girl once who was going into surgery the day this project was due, she had no idea either until the last-minute, and she managed to get this in. No excuses. If you don't know your partner, raise your hand."

 

 

Kankri watched a majority of the students look around the room and lift their arms in the air. Mrs. Coleman began to list off names.

He looked down the rows of desks and across to the other side of the room at Aranea, who was writing something in her notebook.

He gathered up his items, a red binder and notebook, and stood up along his fellow students.

"Wait, guys," The teacher pointed at the wall behind her. It could have been considered a collage of inspirational quotes and pictures of cats and coffee. "This is the schedule for the fire alarm. When it goes off at some point next period, please don't act like apes and run around the school. It isn't in our paycheck to deal with situations like that. You're in high school now."

 

Kankri mentally noted her announcement and continued his way across the room. Aranea had looked up and was seemingly about to get up when Kankri sat down beside her and placed his notebook in front of him. Mrs. Coleman's heels clicked over to where they were sitting. She gave them a red smile and reached her arm out. In her hand was a packet of papers.

Kankri reached for it, but Aranea had got to it before him. His arm recoiled back to the table as their teacher walked away.

"Alright Kankri," Aranea said. She leaned out from her desk so he could see the paper better. He didn't want to sit awkwardly close to her, but also didn't want her to be seeping out of her desk like a caught bass trying to get back in the river. Kankri stood up and moved his desk so both, he and Aranea's, were touching. It made a loud noise that erupted the quiet setting of the room. He sat back down and looked at the paper.

"We do need to approach an issue, and we have to have at least seven resources." Aranea said.

"Do you mind if I take that?" Kankri said. "You shake when you talk and I can't read anything."

 

Aranea handed him the paper. He held it in front of him and read through. They were going to have to interview at least five people, have an essay on what they learned, and they had to have at least one video of the one of the interviewees talking. Attached to the paper was a form on plagiarism, and another on how to site the sources. He looked back at Aranea and handed it back to her.

 

"Do you want to stay after school? The sooner we finish this the better, it will also leave room for any means of editing or changing that we may come to, as well as clear the space for an epiphany of some sort to spring into action."

"Where would we meet? I have to finish organizing the books after school today." Aranea said.

"I have to drive Karkat home as well, and I have to go to work at six. Speech and Debate is also at four, and that lasts about an hour." He said.

"We can meet up somewhere at five until you have to work." Aranea said. Kankri nodded.

"Alright."

"Let's go to Spondaleski's room, he has a good knack for story telling, and might know where we can begin. A mystery is unfortunately like an unfinished story. It has a beginning, a middle, but no end."


	4. Clubs

"So as a result, people are bound to be hurt."

Mr. Gregory Allan Wilkes said from the back of a tightly compacted and cramped room. His walls were bare but he had a number of books that laid in various places. Small shelves were nailed in different sections of the room, each on hosting as many books as it possibly could. Kankri had just walked in, late due to Karkat failing to be outside on time. The entire ride home had been a battle of "who explained what correctly," and "why those insults don't make sense."

 

"Kankri, there you are." Mr. Gregory Allan Wilkes said. He had requested his entire name be used in a formal way when approaching him. "As head of the Speech and Debate team, I thought you would be on time like everyone else."

The condescension that laid from behind his round glasses shot though the room and into Kankri. This man was one of the very few people he could say was somewhat of a role model to him.

"I apologize sir." Kankri said looking at a clock. It was already fifteen minutes past four. If he wasn't careful, he would no longer be president... and that damn Will would be. He had to avoid it at all costs.

"Take a seat Mr. Vantas." Gregory Allan said. "Now that you've decided to show up, I am going to tell everyone the big plans." 

Kankri nodded, trying to seem as casual as he could. The seats were arranged in such a way, that a small row was set in the middle. At the end of the row, Mr. Gregory Allan Wilkes' desk was sat promptly. A small lamp with a wine red lampshade was the only source of light in the room aside from the windows. The light would occasionally flicker, the bulb growing weak. Lately, it was one of the sources of annoyance for Kankri. It played a very good role in distracting him from his thoughts. Why Mr. Gregory Allan wouldn't change the bulb was beyond him.

Kankri sat down beside his instructor's desk in the front row of a two-rowed seating arrangement.

The teacher,  whose dark hair looked like it had been dipped in grey ashes walked up to the center of the room.

"We will all be meeting at the Quibok library. If you don't know where that is, look it up on Google Maps. The alternate school, Jansen, will be competing against us. We've won every year since this has started since Vinyer can't get his students together. The topic of the debate has yet to be released, so I want all of you to be practicing day and night any topics you can think of."

Will raised his hand.

"When will this be?" He asked. Kankri silently rolled his eyes. He would never go as far to outwardly create any extreme drama with Will because it would look immature on his behalf as School President and Captain of the Speech and Debate Team. Still, he couldn't help but wonder what Will was even doing on the team. His methods of persuading someone onto a specific point of view was flawed and problematic to say in the least. He was always too smug to the other opponent and was always bragging about how "charming his smile was." Kankri would always try and stay away from him during these self rituals.

"It will be in three weeks, which is-"

"The day before Halloween."

And there it was. Kankri's BIGGEST pet peeve about Will. The interruptions. Ever single time he did that, it made Kankri want to set him straight on the rules of proper debating... and behavior.

"Whaat?" One of the other boys said. "You've got to be kidding me, that's the day the Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff movie comes out."

"Don't forget about Geromy!" Someone else said.

"You either come to this or you are off the team. It's as simple as that." Mr. Gregory Allan Wilkes said. His bright green eyes flashed to Kankri.

"And you wouldn't want to be late."


	5. Unfolding

Aranea sat down at the table. Putting the books away had gone by faster than she had expected. Most likely due to the fact she was working on it a day earlier than usual. It was only half past four, and sitting at the library staring off into space didn't seem ideal.

She stood up, intaking a stomach full of breath. Spondaleski was the type of man who was sometimes overwhelmingly manic. The man could go days without sleeping and still be jumping all over the place.

His views on life were something of extrordinay though. Different and well meant both together.

She and Kankri had both gone to see him at lunch, he was buried under his desk eating cheese sticks and watching "Orange is the New Black." Normally she'd be pretty weirded out by it if it weren't his usual behavior. When told about the project, his eyes had lit up, a smile beaming across his face.

"Well, uh, well little do you little guys know," he had started. "I actually thought about perusing a career in criminal justice, ha!"

 

Her and Kankri exchanged glances between each other as the guy continued.

"If you want a local mystery, a girl went missing when I was about your age."

 

And thus started a story. Surprisingly, Vantas didn't interrupt him with a sermon. He actually listened quite intently.

"I was a senior in high school when, golly, I believe her name was Anna, went missing. I didn't go to school here, I lived about two hours away from here. My best friend Drew and I used to look into it, and is why I considered the criminal justice major in the first place. There was a lot of weird conspiracies going around when a second girl, whose name I can't remember for the life of me, went missing. And Drew had a massive crush on a girl named Kris. She disappeared too, and from then on Drew has been kind of a nut job on the entire case. He still looks into it, and I'm sure he'd love to talk about it."

 

The story would have been more interesting if it wasn't a repetition of what he told in class once a month.

 

As she reflected on the case, a familiar person walked through the library doors, tripping over nothing. Kankri quickly found his way up and dusted off his pants.

 

"You're early." Aranea said, noting it was a quarter till five.

 

"I am. That Will decided not to talk about himself for an hour. Have you acquired any new information?"

 

She shook her head. "No, I was thinking this weekend we could go to Spondaleski's hometown though and maybe find Drew. We could sit down to coffee with him."

 

Kankri shrugged, his eyes lacking any emotion.

"I suppose we could do that."

 

Silence fell on them, and she found herself shifting in her seat. She wasn't sure what made her so nervous around him. It was like she had to second guess every word that escaped her lips when he was near.

"Are you driving?" She asked, hoping to cure the awkwardness.

 

"I'd assume so." He responded, pulling out his phone.

 

Okay. What was up. He was supposed to be talking ceaselessly about things that didn't have any bearing whatsoever. That was what he was known for. And yet here he was, being all peaceful and shit.

 

"So, what's up?" She asked, instantly regretting her decision to ask him that. He was tapping rather quickly on his phone, and letting out occasional annoyed sighs.

 

"Just Will. He posted on his Tumblr about the sociodymamics of an underprivileged culture that is centered around punctualism. I was FIFTEEN MINUTES LATE thanks to Karkat, and now Will is trying to build a civil case against me so he can be president of the Speech and Debate team. His argument isn't even valid, numerous fallacies are scattered about like lice."

 

"Maybe he's just je-"

 

"And all he does is interrupt people, without stopping to hear if their argument has some significant points that might help him understand the right view. Once, he and I had a debate about underprivileged privilege for four hours. I won, er, well I was the last one talking anyway."

 

"I'm sorry to-"

 

"And he just never stops. Not to mention I've never once seen him tag any triggers. He's completely insensitive and only want what is in his best interest."

 

Aranea pursed her lips, listening to him still. Here it was, this is what she asked for.

The door behind them opened and in walked non other than Will.

 

"Kankri." Aranea said, tapping his wrist.

 

"I honestly am clueless as to why he is even part of the team, the only thing he's-"

 

"Kankri!" Aranea said as Will grew closer. This time she grabbed his arm.

 

"Hold on Aranea, I'm almost finished. Everyone likes him for some reason but trigger warning on offensive language, he-"

 

"He what?" A third voice joined the conversation. Kankri's eyes flashed when he turned around.

 

"Can I help you? This conversation doesn't involve you."

 

Will shrugged.

"Apparently it does. Tell me, how come you manage to be late to your own meeting, yet you show up on time to chat with your girlfriend?"

 

Kankri's eyes looked like they were saying: "Do you want to die? Like, are you actually asking for death right now?"

 

"I had to pick up my brother, who was late exiting the school. And you know just as well as I do that Aranea is not my girlfriend. I've taken a oath to celibacy, a word that likely you'd have to steer sway from seeing how you somehow manage to host an abundance of partners at once. It's no wonder people stopped asking you how you were doing with your girlfriend, like the weather, you change daily."

 

Will squinted his eyes. "Yeah, okay then. See you next practice."

 

He walked away, and Kankri raised his head. Aranea held back a laugh at the ridiculousness that had unfolded in front of her.


End file.
